The New Girl
by TheLadyEowyn
Summary: It's the whole new girl comes to hogwarts. who is she? good or evil plot thing.
1. Chapter One: The First Meeting

_Chapter one: **The 1st Meeting**_****

"Any more things that we need this year, Hermione-the-All-knowing?" scolded Ron, his freckled face stretched into a smile. 

Hermione just sneered back at him and read aloud off of her supply list for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "'Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6' is all that I have left on my list that isn't scratched out, but I don't know about the two of you."

"'Scratched out?' Your list looks like it was originally gray!" exclaimed Ron, attempting another joke towards her.

"Are you finished or not?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm done."

"I'm finished; I just want to stop by Gringotts and get some coins," replied Harry, nodding in the direction of the large, marble Wizard Bank. 

Once they had gotten the last of Hermione's supplies, and Harry's galleons, and arrived at the train station, it was 10:45—15 minutes before the train would leave. They were actually surprised they had made it so early, seeming as how for the last few years they had been very close to missing the train. 

The three of them were able to rest their tired feet while the remaining passengers got to board slowly. They bought some snacks, shared them between each other, and chattered away about their summers. Harry had stayed with Ron and the other Weasleys' for the summer and away from the Dursleys'—his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and devil-cousin Dudley. This was to Harry's (and the Dursleys') great happiness. So, since he had been away from his relatives, his summer had been fairly good.

Harry glanced out the train's window now to behold a beautiful girl, no older than 16, looking about as if she'd lost something; she looked a little worried. She had deep green eyes with a mixture of fog-like gray; and her skin flawless like porcelain. Her shining, black hair flowed in waves to her shoulders and lingered in her 

eyes. She was wearing a dress of black silk that dangled to her feet. Over it she wore a long-sleeved, low-cut silver cloak that clung together by four pins and hung, the rest 

parted, little shorter than her dress.

She suddenly smiled and walked gracefully over to a large brass owl cage and knelt down beside it. Harry realized what it was that she had been looking for at once. The eagle owl inside the cage was the most beautiful owl he had ever seen since he had been to Hogwarts. Harry had a snowy owl himself, Hedwig, but this owl's temper seemed to be lower. This owl seemed to care about her feathers a lot more than temper or attitude; she kept fanning her spotted tail and ruffling her other spotted white, gray and brown feathers trying to perfectly straighten them into their rightful places on her large body.

The owl turned her large head toward the train and seemed to look straight into Harry's eyes, then it started to squawk and flap around like someone was attacking it. The girl looked towards the train, then smiled, apparently seeing Harry. She turned back to the owl, whispered something to it, and immediately she stopped squawking and restarted her ruffling like nothing had happened. 

Harry, Ron and Hermione's compartment door opened. Hoping to death that Draco Malfoy wasn't the one entering, Harry was forced to look away. To Harry's great pleasure, it wasn't Malfoy, but actually two of Ron's older brothers, Fred and George, the twins.

Ron had 6 other siblings: older brothers Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, and younger sister Ginny. Charlie worked with dragons (currently in Transylavania), Bill with the Gringotts Bank, Percy and their dad with the Ministry of Magic. Ginny was in her third year at Hogwarts. 

George looked out the window as he took a seat by Harry. "Oi! Fred, is that her?"

"Yup! That's her! She's a sight for sore eyes isn't she, George?" said Fred, smiling to the window.

"Who _is that?" asked Ron, now gaping at the young girl. _

Hermione scoffed. "She's probably just some loser—stuck-up—snob that'll be in Slytherin with that Malfoy creature!" 

Harry turned to Hermione. "Hermione, wasn't it you who started that 'spew' club over the elves' "enslavement" two years ago? I wouldn't be judging right now if I were you."

This was a very true statement. Indeed, in their fourth year she had started an organization for the 100 or so house elves that worked within the kitchens of Hogwarts 

called S.P.E.W. (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare). It had failed miserably.

"First of all, It's S-P-E-W. Society for the Pro-" Hermione started, but was 

interrupted by Fred. 

"All right, all right, calm down! Hermione could be right. I heard on my way inside the train that she might end up in Slytherin, which is just the reason that we're in here—to warn you about that. Looks can be deceiving, you know. We'd better get off before we end up at Hogwarts again, and we don't want that," said Fred. "I mean, we liked it there and all, we just want to get to work on our "top secret" plans. Dad said he _might_ help us!" They stood, smiled evilly at Ron (Fred stealing a chocolate frog from him) and Harry, then left, plotting together, sliding the compartment door behind them. 

When Harry looked out the window again, the girl and the owl were both gone. _Probably boarded the train, concluded Harry._

The train's whistle blew, and its engine growled. A few moments after, the train was moving along the track slowly. Harry looked out of the window; out at all of the jovial, smiling faces of those who were too young or too old to go to Hogwarts. He saw some mothers crying happy tears for their sons or daughters taking off into their first year at Hogwarts; he saw other people just jumping up and down, waving at the people on the smoky maroon train. 

Then he saw Fred and George and their parents. Fred looked a little down, more so than he had 10 minutes ago, and George was seeming to have a calm, small argument with his mother. Harry turned to Ron. "Ron, what was the top secret thing that Fred mentioned?"

"Oh, that. They're trying to convince Mum that a joke shop is supposed to make people laugh, and that it's not there to do people harm. Basically, they're _still trying to convince her to allow them to start one. Not much is changing her mind, though." Ron laughed and stuffed a chocolate frog into his mouth._

"What card did you get?" asked Hermione, looking at a 'Headmaster Dumbledore' she had gotten.

"Merlin."

Harry opened one himself. "These are better than normal. They added caramel! Yum. Hey…My card's blank!"

"He's probably just gone somewhere, you know, like they all do." 

"No! I mean, my card is _blank_! There's _nothing on it, not even a name!" He, Ron and Hermione stared blankly at the card, all contemplating on how there could be nothing but patterned color-that was usually the background-mixed with some deep gray and black. Harry stared long and hard at the card. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a stinging pain shot through his scar._

"Ouch, my scar!" He dropped the card, and placed his hand over his scar, retracting quickly from the stinging.

"Harry," hesitated Hermione, "Are you all right? What's your scar doing, hurting like that? You haven't had any troubles with it all summer."

"Yeah," agreed Ron, "It only hurts when You-Know-Who's around, right? And, this being the Hogwarts train, I don't think he'd be _here_, would he? I mean, someone would see him, wouldn't they?" He looked around then nervously tore off the paper lid to a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, poured some into his hand, and ate one. That took his mind off the subject for a brief moment. "Yuck! Weeds. So Harry, what do you think?"

Harry shook his head. The pain was gone now. "I don't know. Curious, though, that this card doesn't have anything on it." He picked up the blank card.

Hermione started, "The people who made it probably just forgot to place a wizard and his biography on it, and then put it in the wrong box or something. Probably just a mishap."

"I doubt it," interrupted Ron. "These people independently check each and every card about 6 times. I know; I read about it!"

"Well, There's got to be something, some logical explanation for it." Hermione nabbed some Bertie Botts from Ron, and popped one into her mouth, obviously aggravated.

"Did they ever make any cards for the 'bad' wizards, Ron?"

"Yes."

"What about Voldemort? Did they create any of him?"

Ron cringed. "Don't say the name! And I'm not sure; they may have, but I seriously doubt it. He wasn't 'bad,' he was evil!"

"I know that, Ron! And I'm sorry for saying the name. It just seems kind of childish-not saying the name and all. It's his name for a reason. Whatever. So you don't think they made any cards of him? My scar usually only hurts when he's near or plotting something; or it hurts when something that's his is right in front of me. It hasn't hurt all summer long." Harry took a box of Bertie Botts' Beans and opened them. "I just want to figure all this out, that's all." He sat back in his seat and dumped a handful of multicolored beans into his mouth.

"Harry, I think I just saw a dung flavored one pop out. Careful," warned Hermione.

Harry cringed. "Okay," he squeaked.

Ron laughed. "How unlucky is that? First you get a blank card, then a dung flavored bean. What's next? Total interaction with Snape half way to Hogwarts?" He shuddered.

"Hey!" popped Hermione. "Maybe that's the teacher Fred was talking about! I mean, okay, so he has a pretty good reputation with the teachers, I think, but his 

reputation with the students is…well…not so great."

"What are you saying? That that girl is Snape's daughter? Ha! She's too pretty, just too pretty! She's more likely to be a veela than Snape's daughter!" squealed Ron.

"I don't know, Ron. Hermione may be right. She did have close to the same hair as him, anyway."

"Harry, please! Her hair was fine and shiny, not gooey and greasy like Snape's! I have my opinion; Hermione has­—"

"Shh! Listen!" hissed Hermione. 

"Crabbe! Keep up! You're big enough! Just shove them out of the way! Why do I have to get stuck with these two?" came a familiar voice all three of them were hoping they wouldn't hear all through the train ride. Draco Malfoy.

Draco's minions, Crabbe and Goyle, followed him almost everywhere; according to Harry, Ron and Hermione, they were his brainless bodyguards.

Goyle's voice grumbled in answer to Malfoy's rhetorical question, "I guess you're just lucky…I guess." 

Harry would have laughed at the snort that came from Malfoy right outside their compartment door, if it hadn't opened to reveal Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" sneered Malfoy. "It's Potter, and his little maggots." 

Ron's owl, Pigwigeon, woke up in his cage as Malfoy slammed the compartment door and started squeak-squawking at the top of his lungs. Harry heard several voices from nearby compartments hush down. Occasionally, he caught the word "Owl" from some on-listener.

"Can it, Malfoy! We don't need your ignorance in this train anymore," snarled Ron.

"Weasley; you're too poor to talk. I'm surprised that your family can afford your pathetic twin brothers who waste so much money trying to pull those attempted pranks! Not to mention that owl! How do you sleep at night with that little devil squeaking his throat dry like that?" Malfoy grabbed the small cage and rattled it loudly. Ron pushed him away from the cage and into the door, steadied the cage before it fell off of the seat, and then took a new seat by his owl. He glared at Malfoy with an expression that looked as if he had just swallowed a bite of maggot-covered spaghetti.

Malfoy laughed at Ron. "You should keep that look, Weasley! It looks absolutely great on your poor pathetic face!" Goyle and Crabbe burst out into laughter.

"Fred and George alone are better at pranks than you! All you do is go prancing around making fun of people! Doing that is _not_ pulling a prank!" snarled Hermione at an attempted comeback towards him.

"Yes, mudblood. I love my job. Oh, and say 'hi' to the muggles for me okay?" Goyle thought this retort was very funny. Crabbe was laughing so hard now that it seemed he wasn't breathing until he started coughing.

"Crabbe! Breathe in, breathe out. Okay? Learn how to breathe, at the least. I can't afford you to die from laughter. Then again, I could frame Potter. No. The mudblood teachers' pet would probably tell one of her 'masters' and get me into trouble."

"Malfoy. First of all, shut up. Second, what do you want, anyways?" demanded Harry.

"'What do I want?' Absolutely nothing but to destroy your lives."

"Oh, sack it," spat Ron, "and go join the Death Eaters!"

"I wish." Malfoy almost sounded dead serious as he made a grab at one of Harry's chocolate frogs, but Hermione slapped his hand away. A move he didn't expect.

"Go scrounge down a garbage can and find your own money to pay for candy, instead of snatching someone else's, Malfoy."

"She does play sarcasm.  Who would have known?" Again, Goyle and Crabbe laughed, and, again, he reached for a chocolate frog.

He was stopped this time by a prefect entering the compartment. "Better get your robes on; we're not far from the castle." He smiled and left as quickly as he had come.

"Oh well. I don't think I will have any; the stuff might make me _fat_." He sneered at Harry. "I'll be back, Potter. Don't you worry."

"Trust me; I won't."

"Crabbe! Goyle! Let's go, now. Before I get intoxicated by the air of the 'Potter fan club!'" Crabbe and Goyle each rammed one fist into the opposite hand and left, grinning stupidly, right behind Malfoy.

"I hate him! I wouldn't be surprised if he was planning on starting the Death Eaters again; it suits him so much," Hermione exploded in what sounded like one very fast sentence after they had changed their robes and were sitting once more.

"Hermione! Calm yourself. I've never seen you get so angry over a waste like Malfoy. What's got into you?" questioned Ron. Harry just looked out of the window at the scenery blurring by and listened, half thinking about the wizard card he had gotten.

"I decided on the train at the end of last year that I wasn't going to just let Malfoy slip by sneering insults at us anymore. And I'm going to live up to that…I hope."

"You know, I like your idea, but you insulting him is just doing the same thing that he's doing to us. It's just going to make him jealous and  make him insult us even more," stated Harry, now turning to them. "Try doing that a different way, instead of being a female version of Malfoy, okay?"

"Yeah, Hermione; Harry's got a point. Giving a person a taste of his own medicine just doesn't work. Ugh! Pig! Will you ever shut up? I think that he was right 

about Pig, though. He is just a little squeak, isn't he?" Ron asked kind of sadly while he stuffed another slightly bigger piece of owl feed into his owl's mouth. Pigwigeon stopped squawking immediately and chewed as fast as he could.

"No, Ron. I don't think Pigwigeon does that just for the sake of being able to," Hermione tried to sound convincing. "I think that he just does that because he knows how malicious Malfoy is."

Hermione suddenly started laughing. Harry stared at her and Ron jumped. "Know what?" she asked them, taking a breath. "We said it would be double-bad luck if we ran into Snape in the middle of the train ride. Who do we run into at the end? Malfoy—The second worst person to encounter."

"You're right." Ron grabbed another box of Bertie's  beans, then tossed them down back where they had been. Then, looking out the window, "We're here."


	2. Chapter Two: The Sorting of the Houses

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Chapter Two:** The Sorting of the Houses**

Milly looked out of the window of her empty compartment and gasped. '_So this is Hogwarts. Wow. It's surprisingly bigger than I thought. I wonder if it's run just as well as Beauxbatons?' _she thought to herself. 'W_here in this large school could my father be? What about the students? I wonder what they're like? Are they nice? Or are they like the stuck-ups at Beaux- my old school? _She reminded herself._ It's my old school now. I go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I have to get used to that.'_

She looked out of the Hogwarts Express's window and saw a large giant with a frizzy, knotted black beard. His hair, pulled back into a ponytail, was half-hidden under the extra-large brown coat he was wearing. The giant was holding a magically-lit lantern high above his head. It had a dancing red, blue, and yellow flame changing its form from a raven to a badger, then from a snake to a lion, and then back to a raven again. The lantern's flame-creature lit up the giant's facial features and made him look like the kind of person you wouldn't wish to meet at night in a dark alley. (Then again, would you want to meet any kind of giant in any dark alley?)

She gathered up her books and sat still on her seat as the train came to a loud halt. She heard the hundreds of students shouting excitedly, prefects trying to shout instructions over the students; she heard compartment doors open and other doors slam shut. Then she heard the train's whistle blow, giving the signal that it was safe to exit the crowded train and cross the lake only to emerge where it would be even more crowded.

As the students and herself departed from the train, Milly heard loud, bellowing shouts and looked around to see who they belonged to. They were deep and, as she scanned the crowd, Milly realized that it was the giant who was hollering. She listened intently to hear his shouting over the hundreds of students, and was able to make out just enough to understand his instructions. "Firs' years……tra'sferred stu'ents……take boats; yeh others……carriages!"

She squinted her eyes and tried to see the faces of students that were crowding the carriages, boats and the giant. She could make out very little faces of those who were crowding the large giant. There was a girl with an expression of anticipation on her face, brown, frizzy hair and an enormous pile of books in her arms. The girl was talking very fast to two younger girls, both of which were probably in their first year. The young girl on the eager girl's left had an unmistakable look of confusion and annoyance. She had a small black handbag, blonde hair which was twisted into a long braid and draped over shoulder, and a large brown and white rat who kept waddling behind her neck from shoulder to shoulder. The other girl on the right had a very bored expression revealed and her arms were folded over her dazzling blue robe that stretched to her ankles. Her eyes were averted upward and she didn't seem to be listening to the girl with all the books.

Milly shifted the eagle owl in its cage to her other hand. As she boarded a large paddle boat, her gaze lingered toward the students that had arrived quickly by carriages being pulled by large skeletal horse-things with long, bat-like wings. One boy, she noticed, was tall and had flaming red hair and freckles. She looked at the boy that the freckled boy, and the giant, seemed to be talking to. He had dark black hair which, in the night's light, seemed to be even darker than the deep black it already was. The boy was just about as tall as the freckled boy next to him, and wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

The boat lurched and one of the girls screamed. Milly grabbed the side of the boat automatically. She held her owl's cage tightly on the bottom of the boat with her feet so it wouldn't tip and hurt the bird. She looked out from the boat and into the murky surface of the water. She scanned it from near the edges of the boat further out into the lake. All was still as could be save the ripples from the wind and paddles. She relaxed a little and glanced at the passengers of the other boats. They seemed like they hadn't heard anything and were very quiet. The passengers aboard this paddle boat were, contrary to the others, chattering about the boat's lurch.

She looked out into the water again and her eyes widened. She could now see long, wide ripples of something moving fast and steadily across the water. Even squinting, she couldn't make out its form, but, by the size and width of the ripples, it seemed very large.

Now, uneasily taking her mind off of the lake and its inhabitants, Milly gazed back toward the shore. Most of the students that were outside were now inside the old stone castle. The girl with the bushy brown hair and the boy with the black hair were inside as well. The giant, however, was awaiting their arrival onshore.

The boat soon hit the light, sandy bank of the lake. Its passengers were led carefully onto the sand and were led into Hogwarts' Great Hall. Most of the riders were either fascinated my the large, grinning giant or terrified of him. A couple of first years in the boat beside Milly's were so freaked out that they jumped out of the boat and ran like there was a overgrown serpent about to bite off their heads if they didn't run. When the couple of those boys entered the Hall, they were drenched from jumping into the dark water of the lake.

After introducing himself as Hagrid, Milly herself was warily escorted to the front doors of the castle of Hogwarts by the giant and to a long, wide table. She sat on one of the stools, set her luggage to the side of her seat. The table was lined with hundreds of shining gold plates and covered foods.

The headmaster shushed the crowd of students, old and new, and announced for everyone to hear, "Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Before we begin the traditional Sorting Ceremony and feast, I would like to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Darconnel." The new professor stood, a grim look on his face, and scanned the students. He smiled after a moment, and a satisfied expression crossed his grim one, but quickly disappeared. He sat again, and Headmaster Dumbledore continued, "We would like to announce that he has excitedly accepted our request of being our new teacher, despite the past happenings. Just as our first years are new, Professor Darconnel is as well. Give him a chance, shall we? Of course. So! Enough with the dilly-dallying! Let us get on with the Sorting! Professor McGonnogal."

A woman with high cheekbones, gray hair knotted into a tight bun stood, walked hastily to a wooden stool in front of the Professor's table and set down a hat. It was bent, patched, dust-covered, and looked very old. Professor McGonnogal stepped back and partially opened a scroll in her hands. She glanced at the hat, which gave a sudden perk. It straightened itself and looked about the room, studying the new students and the older. The Professor started explaining about the ruddy old hat. "First years and transferred students: This hat will sort you into one of four Houses- Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, or Gryffindor. Which one is chosen for you is chosen. There will be no switching, and no rearranging. The House in which you go is determined on your personality. When I call your name, please step forward and have a seat. I will then place the hat on your head and he will make his decision. When you are sorted, please take your seat at your House table. Now we will begin."

She called the first name from her list. "Ardell, Auriell." A girl with black hair pulled into a bun walked forward and sat on the wooden stool. Professor McGonnogal placed the hat on her head. The hat stirred once more, and Auriell, a slightly worried look on her face, looked up at the wide rim, curious of which House it would join her to. It thought aloud for a moment, the hollered for the whole of the Great Hall to hear, "Hufflepuff!" Auriell immediately looked relieved and went to join the students of her House.

The professor called more and more names, and when she came to Milly, she felt that it had come all too fast. But, nevertheless, "Ridell, Milliscent!" was projected through the crowd of students. Milly stood, walked up to the stool and took her seat. But as professor McGonnogal lifted the hat above her head, it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" There was an unusual hush between the students suddenly and, just as sudden, a few started whispering to each other. She herself was a little surprised at how fast the hat had made its decision, but then she remembered that being in the Slytherin House had run in the family before-she was just the second generation. But so fast? "Next student, please, Professor!" croaked the hat. He eyed her peculiarly all the way back to the table which she left her things and to the Slytherin table until "Rochelle Waldarnio!" was seated and sorted into Gryffindor House. Rochelle was the last student, and, after the traditional welcome back feast, the prefects led the students to each of their houses. 

Milly made friends quick with a boy by the name of Draco Malfoy. Right when she had sat down at the table in their common room after the sorting, he had seated himself beside and had begun to babble. But-and she didn't think he noticed-she hadn't really been paying much attention to him. Not until he mentioned the most strict teacher in the whole school, who hated Gryffindor, Professor Snape, was his favorite teacher, but just because that particular professor "punished Gryffindors real good." When Draco said this, she had turned to him and asked, "What do you have against the Gryffindor House, Draco? Are you jealous of someone in that house, or is it just a competitive boy thing that I don't, and shouldn't, have any clue about?" (She personally thought he was jealous of someone.)

This remark took him a little off guard. But he simply said, "It's a thing" and, to Milly's annoyance, went rambling on and on about one of the times he got to sneak around Nocturne Alley with his father. She was interested in what he looked at, but unfortunately he never said what he was there for. When his bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle (or she thought they were used for bodyguards) arrived from making their own mischief, Draco left with them, making something that Milly thought must be a smile to her, and went into the boys' dormitory to go to bed or set some sort of morning traps for the less harmful Slytherins to fall for when they woke the next day.

Milly, however, did not go to bed. She thought of it too early and wasn't tired in the first place. Not knowing, or caring, if she was allowed, she sneaked out of the common room and went to have a look around the castle. She took her schedule so that she could find the way to her classes the next day without getting lost and ending up late.

It was easy to find where the Herbology class was, and where the Care of Magical Creatures class was as well, since she had seen the hut outside the castle by the forest which according to the schedule is the professor's. But why he lived in a hut and not inside the castle, she could only guess. Almost all of the classes were pretty easy to find, all except for one, and that was potions, which was to be found in the dungeons. It took her almost an hour and a half of wandering-finding the library sometime in there- to discover it. Even when she found where it was, she didn't hang around there long. Something about the potions class being in the dungeons made a slow, freezing chill creep down her spine.

Milly walked slowly and cautiously back to the stairs leading up to Slytherin Tower, now tired from all of the night's walking she had done. She trudged through a new guard watching over the entrance to the tower, a portrait of a pack of lounging wolves that sometimes prowled the dense forest in the background. She spoke the password, "Forbid-curses," before the leader of the pack of wolves allowed the frame to slide to the left and reveal the entrance. She slowly walked up the green-carpeted staircase, ignoring the remarks about being late to bed from the venomous snake picture that hung on the door of the girls' room.

Milly plopped onto her soft, four-poster bed and heaved a sigh of relief. She was back in bed and had not been caught wandering around the halls after curfew. She wondered what would have happened if she had. Would she have gotten a detention. Would she have been expelled, or would she have just been given a first warning? Oh well. She didn't care. She had not been caught, and all that mattered to her at that moment was that she would get some sleep before the morning came. Without even taking off her shoes, she slipped under the covers and fell right to sleep.


	3. Chapter Three: New Friends

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Chapter Three: **New Friends**

Harry Potter was woken by the sound of yells, hollers, hisses, meows, and squawks. He groaned and turned on his side, then tried stuffing his ruffled head under his pillow, but it barely even muffled the noises his fellow Gryffindors and their animals were making.

Harry groaned again and sat up. He squinted in the direction of where his glasses were supposed to be, felt around for them, and realized they weren't there. He felt along the floor beside his bed and the bedside table, and had no luck. "Ron! Do you know where my glasses are? I put them on the table, but they're not there now!" he hollered above all the noise.

Somehow Ron heard and managed to get it quieter in the room. "Quiet down, please!" he yelled and came over to Harry, but he didn't sit. "Morning Harry!" he panted, "I don't think I know where your-oh! Wait, never mind, I put them in the case and into the drawer there so that they wouldn't get carried off. Crookshanks got out last night without Hermione or any of the other girls noticing. He, don't ask me how-I don't know- managed to get into our room, and he's been making terror the whole time. Honestly! Hermione should lock that cat up. He scratched me and poked little holes in my blankets. Not to mention other little minor things. Here you are!" Ron handed over Harry's glasses with the broken nosepiece. The tape was now pealing off. "You should fix those, Harry, you know. You could have Hermione do it, she's done it before."

"I know. I just haven't gotten around to it yet, that's all." Harry stood and looked around. There were feathers strewn around the large room, Hedwig's were among them, and a couple chairs were turned onto their sides and backs. Some of the boys had Hermione's cat cornered and hissing wildly. The spit that Crookshanks had spat out from the hissing and growling made it look as though she had some sort of disease related to rabies. "Thanks for saving my glasses, Ron."

But Ron had gone to join the boys who had cornered Crookshanks. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," he pestered. This made Harry smile, but Ron seemed to get frustrated. "Oh, come here, you stupid cat!" He made a grab for Crookshanks, but the large tabby swiped at Ron, slashing a long streak across his forearm. Ron recoiled, glared at the cat and stomped his way out the door and down the steps, trying to resist kicking the large cat. He was followed by others who had crowded around to watch his attempt.

Crookshanks followed Harry into the stairway a few minutes later at his order, and before Crookshanks could turn back, was back in the dormitory. Crookshanks was locked out, and there was no more cat to cause additional damage. Harry dressed himself and started on his way into the Great Hall for breakfast. As he turned a corner, someone slammed into him, and the both of them fell to the ground. Books, papers and quill feathers flew everywhere. Harry looked at what had hit him. It was the girl he had seen when he was on the train. She looked up at him for a long moment, apologized, and then started to hastily pick up her things. Harry helped her, saying that it was okay. "Are you all right?" he asked her when they were finished.

She seemed a little startled at the question. "Me? Yes; I'm fine. How about you?" Her deep green eyes met his, and she smiled a sweet smile, the same one he had seen her smile to her owl in its cage two days before.

"I'm perfectly fine. No damage. What were you running for, though? Classes don't start for another hour."

"They don't? I thought I was late; I slept in so much…What time is it?"

"Ten-thirty. You'll need to wear your robes to class, though. If you don't, teachers take points off and make you change into them anyway. What house are you in?"

"Slytherin." Milly answered shortly, feeling a little awkward.

"'Slytherin?' Are you serious? That's all right." Harry held out a hand. "Hi. My name's Harry. What's you name?"

Milly took his hand and shook it. "Harry? Harry what?" They let go of each other's hand and continued to walk.

"Harry Potter."

Milly stopped at a corner near a suit of armor. "No offense, but I've never heard of you. Not to be rude of course!" she added quickly, "You just said it like I should have known. You asked for my name, and you got it. I'm Milly Ridell. What House are you in? Gryffindor?"

"Yeah. I have another question for you. What school did you transfer from?"

"Me? Beauxbatons. Why?"

"What did you transfer for? Didn't you like the school? We had a visit from them a few years ago. They seemed pretty nice."

"Weird things kept happening. My bad luck around the students, I guess."

Harry thought, from the tone of her voice and failure to make eye contact, that this was a touchy subject for her-or that she wasn't being truthful, but he dismissed it. They continued walking in silence, both feeling a little awkward not knowing what to say, until they reached the Slytherin Tower. "Do you know where the Great Hall is from here? I can wait for you to change, and then lead you there if you don't." Harry asked but regretted it. He didn't want any encounters from Malfoy and his gang of idiots like he'd had on the train.

Milly smiled back, but replied, "I'll manage. Thank you for all you've done." Harry was only slightly disappointed with her goodbye, but he left with a last smile and a "See you later, Milly." He then walked to the Great hall, thinking about what she might have meant.

Most of the people were already in the Great Hall and eating by the time Harry arrived. He saw Hermione and Ron waving him over at the Gryffindor table. Harry sat down between them, and, almost immediately, a large plate and some fine silverware popped in front of him out of mid air. "Come on, Harry; have a bite to eat! The food's better than ever! Those kitchen elves really know how to cook a meal. They've modified it since last year. Much better, much better," Ron complimented. 

Harry picked up a fork, scooped some eggs and bacon onto his plate, and then placed it back down again. He poured some orange juice into his glass and took a sip. Ron was right; the juice was much tastier than he remembered it from last year.

"I'm surprised there's so many of them left! I left out so many clothes for them last year, you'd think there wouldn't be any left!" replied Hermione.

Harry and Ron exchanged looks.

As he placed the glass back down, Harry noticed Draco at the Slytherin table, stuffing his face with eggs, talking to Crabbe and Goyle and some other Slytherins, but still trying to look good for them. Harry smiled and looked down the Slytherin table. Milly hadn't arrived yet. He thought for a moment. She might just be wandering around the castle trying to find the Great Hall. Or was she up in her room trying to find her robes? Was she worried?

Harry was brought back to reality by Ron's voice. "Harry? You going to eat? Classes start in 30 minutes. They put all this food in front of us, but they don't give us enough time to eat it all! How unfair's that?"

Hermione laughed. "You just eat slow, and put too much onto your plate."

He glanced at Ron's plate. Had Ron even eaten anything yet? His plate was mostly full. "Yes, Ron. I'm eating." He bit a piece of his bacon the took a bite of his eggs. He swallowed and took another drink. He finished his meal in this manner and left to his dormitory room and gathered his books. He headed to the door, but stopped when Ron opened it and entered. "Harry. I'm glad you haven't left yet. I don't know which class to go to first."

"Ron! We studied our own schedules and each other's last night! You lost yours, didn't you?" Ron nodded. "You and I have Care of Magical Creatures together first. With the Slytherins." He and Ron walked down the staircase with their books.

"Harry," started Ron, with a tone a little more serious. "I know it's a touchy subject, but I could have sworn I saw Snuffles last night.

Harry stopped walking and supported himself on an old fashioned door knob as his stomach gave an uncomfortable, nauseating lurch. Harry knew Ron was talking about Sirius Black, former friend of his parents' and former legal godfather. Sirius had died in a battle with his Death Eater cousin, Bellatrix Lastrange, the previous year. He'd been given strict orders from Dumbledore not to leave shelter of his mother's old house at number twelve Grimauld Place, but had disobeyed them. Sirius had been on the run from the Ministry of Magic for supposed murder of twelve muggles and Peter Petigrew. But it was Peter Petigrew who was the real murderer. He was what is called an Animagus, a person that can change into one animal of choice. They were all Animagus: Harry's father had been a stag; Sirius a large black dog; Former-Professor Lupin an unwilling werewolf. Petigrew had chosen a rat. He faked his own death and had gotten away with murder. Sirius Black was charged for the murder and placed in the wizard prison, Azkaban. He escaped as the dog, but was killed by his own cousin.

Harry looked Ron in the eye. "Seen him?" he said slowly.

"I thought that I saw some sort of dog-like animal outside the Great Hall's window last night, but I couldn't tell what it was," said Ron, explaining what he meant.

"How could it have been him?" He turned, a bit agitated at Ron for even mentioning having seen Sirius-which was, as Harry knew very well but didn't admit, impossible. He took a step toward the open picture frame of the Fat Lady, but Ron grabbed his arm.

"Harry, I'm sorry. It's probably just my imagination playing horrible tricks on me… Really, I'm very sorry."

Harry nodded, and smiled at Ron.

"Well? Are you leaving or not? I can't stay open all day!" The Fat Lady was getting impatient, so the two of them left without another word.


	4. Chapter Four: New Classes New Students

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Chapter Four: **_New Classes; New Students_**

Milly sped down the stairs, through the large picture of the wolves with their dark forested background, down the hall outside the portrait, skidded around a sharp corner turning into the Great Hall, and charged toward the double doors. She slowed at the doors, pushed them open, and then raced for the large wooden hut toward the Forbidden Forest. She saw students crowded around the large giant that had helped her out of the wooden boat after her sail across the lake.

She slowed as she came up to the group. The giant smiled at her, and greeted the class. "Hello. My name's 'Agrid. Nice 'at all of yer could make it back 'is year." She returned his smile, but the rest of the Slytherins sneered at him. Then she noticed Harry, gave him a little smile, then turned back to Hagrid and listened to his instructions. "Now. I 'ave a new kind o' species for yer to 'andle wi' 'is year. 'ese cute little creatures are called Lizaros. Now, Be careful with 'em. 'ey aren't very dangerous, but 'ey can get temperamental. And yer might want to wear 'ose gloves 'ere." He pointed to a pile of thick, rubber gloves and added, "'at way yer won't feel their tiny shock. Otherwise, 'eir harmless."

Hagrid smiled to his class and walked over to the back of his hut. He returned shortly with a box full of what Milly could only guess were the "cute little creatures". They had 2 rows of long gray spikes along their puke-green and brown blotched backs, and one row down their tails, of which were twice the size of their backs and wiggled around as they scuttled along over and under each other in the cardboard box. They each had a set of demon-like wings of which were tucked in as they walked. Occasionally, Hagrid had to quickly place his large hand over the box or shut one of the lids to keep one of the Lizaros from flapping itself out and away to freedom. Their eyes were dark red slits, and each one's mouth was lined with sharp milk-white teeth. They seemed to smile when you looked at them.

The class stared, and some students backed away. Milly heard Ron say to Hermione, "Do you think he asked Dumbledore if these things were allowed at the school?"

Hermione shrugged and replied, "I don't know, but they look mean. I wonder where they shock you from?"

Hagrid answered that one. "'ey shock you by clawing you-which can sting for weeks, or 'ey just poke you wi' 'eir spikes. Too bad 'ey don't shoot flames."

"'Too bad!?'" exclaimed Ron. "Thank goodness!"

Milly walked forward to look at the lizard-things. One looked up at her, and its eyes widened almost to the size of dinner plates in what seemed like fear. The creature started to squeak and hiss, moving all around in the box. It frantically unfolded its wings and tried to flap out of the box. Milly didn't move. Hagrid placed his hand over it, but to shocked him and his reflexes pulled his hand away from the box. The Lizaro managed to flap out of the box. Most of the students slowly backed away from the Lizaro. It stood on its hind legs, let out a sharp hiss, and, baring its pointed teeth, barreled straight for Milly. She turned and ran towards Hagrid's hut, trying to escape it, but, as she took the first step, it leaped onto her ankle. She felt a sharp zap, and for a split second she seemed to freeze up. When she regained movement after the shock, she kicked at the air. The Lizaro didn't have a tight hold, and that was it's mistake. It practically flew across the lawn and into some bushes near the other students. Hagrid sped over to the bushes and caught it in midair as it tried to fly away and put it back into the box.

Some of the Slytherins cheered at what she had done to Hagrid's lizard-creature, all of them thinking that she had intentionally kicked it into the bushes, but most of the class just stared at her. Milly sat down and looked at her hurting ankle. She saw a long, deep, red scratch. She guessed that it must have gotten her with it's tail spikes or its claws.

Hagrid closed the box to where none of the other Lizaros could escape and walked over to Milly. "Are you all righ', Milly? Go on down to Madame Pomfrey in the 'ospital Wing, and see what she can do abou' 'ealing yer up."

"I'm fine. Not too much damage. I can still walk. There's no need to go."

Hagrid was testy about this remark. "If yer don't go and get some treatment, 'en yer'll be feeling shocks abou' once every ten minutes. 'at could give yer some damage. Now I want year to go and go now."

"I said that I feel-" But she was cut off by a second jolt, and this one hurt twice as bad as the direct one from the Lizaro. Some of the Slytherins laughed as the jolt made her jump a few inches.

Hagrid tried to shush them up. "Now, now," he said. "'is is no laughing matter. Milly. I'll have 'arry take you to Madame Pomfrey. Go on, now. No more arguments."

There were many remarks toward Hagrid from the Slytherin boys about a Gryffindor leading their fellow Slytherin to the Hospital Wing, but Hagrid didn't say anything in remark to their disagreements. Harry walked Milly to the school doors without saying a word until they entered, and Milly no longer protested about going to the Hospital Wing. She liked Harry's company, even though it was a little awkward. 

"That was weird, huh? That lizard just popped out of the box and chased you. Must have been weird for you, anyway."

"Not really. I don't have a thing for animals, aside from snakes. I love snakes."

"Are you a Parslemouth?" Harry blurted without thinking. He immediately regretted it. "Sorry… That's kind of a personal question."

Milly froze with another jolt, this one hurting three times as much as the original. When it was done, she leaned back against the wall for a moment to catch her breath, and then started walking once more. "Yes." She answered Harry's question directly while looking at the floor as she walked along.

It was a second before Milly noticed that he was looking at her. She stopped walking and turned to him. "What's the matter? Did I scare you?"

"You're almost the only other person I have ever met that is a Parslemouth, besides myself."

"No telling, okay?" She looked a little worried for a moment. "I don't want anyone to know. I just want to be left alone. I don't want to be questioned or anything like that. I'm not too interested in being the main topic to talk about around the school."

"No worries. I completely understand how you feel."

"Seriously?" She up at him and their eyes met.

"Yeah…Besides, I don't think that anyone could be more a topic of rumor them me-being Harry Potter "The Boy Who Lived" and all. Not that I like it. It's quite aggravating, actually. But I'm used to it now…I think."

Milly's breath caught. "'The boy who lived?' You mean…?" She was interrupted by another shock that nearly knocked her out. She leaned against the stone wall, breathing heavily. "I'm sorry, Harry. I'm so, so sorry."

"What are you sorry about? You didn't do anything wrong." He helped her walk down the hall. "Come on. Let's get you to Madame Pomfrey. She'll know how to cure you of the shocks."

"Okay," she replied, walking alongside him.

When they reached the Hospital Wing, Madame Pomfrey was there waiting for them. "Oh, dear, dear. Come, come. What 's happened?" She led them to a large room filled comfortably with nice, soft beds which were for her patients.

"She got stung in Care of Magical Creatures by a Lizaro . They're Hagrid's new animals that we have to learn about. Can you help her?"

But Madame Pomfrey was already squeezing a bit of sting and poison ointment onto Milly's index finger to run on the scrape. "Your shocks will no longer be increasingly painful each shock, but they will decrease and eventually go away. Only then can you leave here. That will only be until about dinner time."

"Okay. Thank you, Madame Pomfrey."

"Harry, you may go now. Milly will be perfectly fine."

Harry left the hospital wing, and Milly lay on her bed, and eventually drifted off to sleep.

At first, she was having a rather strange dream of herself and Harry picking and eating wild berries which were growing on large weeping willow trees on the shore of the lake near Hogwarts. Then Milly had to go inside the castle for a urgent message flown to her by the largest and cruelest owl there ever was. E nipped her hand many times while she was fiddling with his leg to get the note. She had to go to her see Professor Darconnel immediately. She said goodbye to Harry and left.

When she reached the castle, the scenery in her dream changed. She was in he dark, dreary dungeons of the castle--after hours. In her hand was a small photocopy of herself, her brother, and her father and mother. She stared at the picture, taking a couple glances at her mother, remembering their fun times together. Remembering the life she had while her father was around.

Then she took a long hard look at her father. He was a tall and kind of depressing man, after he lost his job. As a matter of fact, he changed a lot after his job was lost to him. But before then, her family was as happy as a family could be. Her mother hadn't worked, and her father was around more. When he was fired, Milly started seeing less and less of him. One warm summer night he never came home. She and her mother stayed up half the night waiting for him, but he never came. The week after he left, her mother received mail from him. Her father had filed a divorce. Also, there was a note. "_Sorry, Milly, if you read this. You'll end up reading this eventually, if not when your other reads it. Things weren't working out for us. I wasn't able to find a job until I came here. Now I'm a successful businessman. I wish you and your mother a happy life. Love --- T. Riddle."_ Her mother signed the papers, and immediately sent them out. With tears in her eyes, Milly had ran up to her room and found an owl hopping around on her bed, a note attached to its leg.

It was a month until she received a letter personally to herself from him. this letter stated that she should transfer from Beauxbatons to Hogwarts if she wished to see him once more. Her father had had some "issues" with one of the families when she was still an infant, and now their son was going to Hogwarts. He had some business to sort out with him, and he had wanted her help in doing so. She had been going to Beauxbatons for the first 4 years, and she had been kind of nervous of suddenly going to a new school, but she was mostly fine with it. She didn't like any of the kids there, anyway. Milly still wondered which boy in this large school he wanted to "do business" with, but she didn't worry too mush about it.

Milly looked up from the picture and started walking slowly down the dungeon halls. Then, breaking the silence that had steadily grown uneasy, someone from behind her let out a scream. Milly jumped with fright, but turned around and started running in the direction from where the scream had come. It was a long scream, but it stopped very suddenly. Milly slowed as she rounded a corner. There was light shining off of the large stone wall. Milly only walked to the entrance of the room, peeking around just enough to see if anyone was in there, but she recognized the room as Snape's office. He wasn't in there.

Then she heard hard footsteps down the hall a way. Being barefoot, she made no sound as she ran the opposite direction, away from the approaching person. The man was mumbling to himself, but it didn't sound at all like Snape. A moment later, she heard the door to Snape's office slam shut. Milly walked cautiously back to the office, and pressed her ear close to the door, so she could hear what the man was saying. "Yeah, Kid, you gave me a lot of trouble tonight. That scream," he grumbled, apparently talking to someone who wasn't talking back, "anyone could have heard it. You're going to get me fired, you are. And if I get fired again, I'll have our head! I nearly went crazy after the first time I was fired. I don't want it to happen again. Got it?" Milly heard a shaken mumble from inside the room. She guessed that it was the kid that he had been threatening. The man started to speak again, but more to himself than to the girl. "I can see it now, but your death and the deaths of everyone in the castle. And they'll all have thought to have happened because of some epidemic. Ha! Epidemic! But no. I'll have been the cause! That traitor, Petigrew was of little use to me. But he died just as he wanted to-a stupid little man next to my side…This will be my best kill over all of the others I have ever done!" He laughed an evil, cackling laugh. Truly the laugh of a lunatic.

A chill sped down Milly's spine. She was only a door away from a convicted murderer, with only a chipped wooden door in between them. That chipped door may be the reason that he was suddenly quiet, muttering for the crying girl to shut up or he'd hurt her. But, whatever the reason, the man walked slowly and soundlessly to the door, and swung it ajar. Milly's face went white. There, standing right in front of her, was the same man as the man in the picture she now had in her pocket. His face, however, didn't go pale. Contrarily, he smiled a toothy, evil grin. "Hello there," he said as he grabbed her arm, "My name's Voldemort. Care to join me and my little friend in here? Instead of eavesdropping outside? You're missing all the fun."

Milly shot upright in her bed. Sweat dampened her pillow and hair. It was all a dream. All a dream. But, how? It had seemed so real. It wasn't even fading from her memory like most of her other dreams usually do. Her father had been standing right in front of her. In front of her as a murderer. And she had turned into his prisoner, without him even seeming to recognizing her as his very own daughter.

Milly excused herself from the hospital wing, with many remarks to her from Madame Pomfrey, and went to her classes.


End file.
